Bermuda's Curse
by bale626
Summary: Take a nature hike in Brazil, they said. It'll be fun, they said. Don't worry about the flight, the Bermuda Triangle is just a myth, they said. They lied.


A/N: I was going to try another story in a Genre I've probably spent too much time in, so I'm branching out now. Lets see how this goes, shall we?

**=()=()=()=**

Bermuda's Curse Chapter 1

It would be an event that Nicholas would remember for the rest of his life; an event that altered his understanding of the nature of the universe around him. Not that he would ever understand what exactly had been the cause, persay. But he would never forget it.

**=()=()=()=**

"_This is the captain speaking; please keep your seatbelts fastened and trays in their upright, and locked positions._"

Nick could not help but shake his head, ignoring the voice of the plane's pilot as he stared out the window, looking at the airport terminal they were about to pull out from. He could just imagine his girlfriend staring out at him from the windows, watching him go. He also did his best to ignore the people talking around him, knowing his friends were somewhere else on the plane.

He rolled his eyes as he looked away from the window, wishing more than anything he had not agreed to taking this trip. It wasn't that he was particularly concerned, but the last thing he really wanted to do for his birthday was take a nature hike in Brazil, of all places. But, his work buddies had all pitched in for the airplane tickets, including his own. Taking a nature hike was nothing new to Nick, but the way he figured, he would rather just take another jaunt over to the Rocky Mountains for that, not fly into a _completely different hemisphere_.

It had eventually boiled down to Amanda convincing him to go. He felt bad for leaving her behind, but she had just shaken her head. "Go have fun with your friends," she had said. So he had, reluctantly, agreed. Glancing out the window again, he had to admit to himself, he was at least glad his seat was next to the emergency exit hatch. He didn't think he would be able to tolerate the long flight without the extra leg room this particular row of seats gave him.

As the plane began to move, Nicholas let out a sigh, sinking down into his seat as he fixed his headphones into place. He closed his eyes, and prepared himself to take a nice, long nap.

**=()=()=()=**

A jolt in the plane caused Nick to jump awake, his eyes blinking rapidly to clear the sleep away. As he pulled his headphones out, he could hear the captain over the loudspeaker. "_...Seem to be hitting a fair amount of turbulence, please remain seated. Thank you._"

Looking out the window, he could not help but notice the dark storm clouds around them. He also noticed that he could no longer see the sun shining, even faintly. He could hear someone talking behind him, especially once they raised their voice a bit. "Oh please, spare me the hocus pocus stories!"

"I'm serious, Jack! There have been dozens of planes and ships that have gone missing in the Bermuda Triangle! How do you know that we aren't-"

"Come off it, Angie. Even if, and I am seriously stressing the word *if* here, the pilot flew us through the Bermuda Triangle, the likelihood of anything happening to us is astronomical…"

Nick stopped listening, shaking his head and finding himself agreeing more with 'Jack' sitting behind him. While Nicholas was no scientist, he had enough applicable knowledge to know that planes could never just disappear into thin air. Obviously, they had to go somewhere, like the bottom of the ocean, or on some remote, unknown island in the ass end of nowhere.

As the turbulence began to increase, he reached down and grabbed his sling bag from beneath his seat, sliding it in reverse over his torso. The last thing he needed was for his bag to slide halfway across the plane along the floor. Glancing around, he noticed others doing the same thing with their own bags. He could hear the thunder rumbling outside the plane, the sound inspiring a rather churning feeling deep in his stomach.

On a whim, he decided to look out the small window through the emergency door to his left. He could see the wing of the large Boeing shuddering and moving in the heavy winds. Nick could also see the plane light up every so often from the lightning. However, that was not the only thing that met his eyes. Looking closer, he could almost swear he could see something else outside in the storm, something not connected to the plane, as though it were floating just beyond the reach of the wingtip.

His musings were cut short as he heard someone a handful of rows behind him let out a blood curdling scream. The next thing Nicholas knew, it sounded as though a train passed through the plane behind him, wind suddenly stealing his breath away. Looking over his shoulder, he gasped, realizing the entire back of the plane was just gone. He could only see four or five rows of seats directly behind him, and the seats furthest back seemed to disappear before his very eyes in the hurdling wind whipping through the cabin.

Feeling the wind yanking at him, he began to panic, seeing more and more chairs being flung out of the back of the plane. His inner ear was playing havoc on his equilibrium, both from the depressurization of the cabin and the apparent spinning of the plane without the tail. Nicholas nearly jumped out of his seat when he saw one of the stewardesses go flying past him, out through the back of the plane.

Another glance behind him showed that almost all of the seats behind him had been pulled out of the plane, with his row looking to be the next to go. Desperately, Nick took off his seatbelt, and dove for the emergency exit door, clinging to the handle just as his seat was ripped from the floor. The last thing he really wanted was to be flung out into the open skies. The way his panicked mind figured, his odds of survival were better inside the plane than out of it.

Looking through the viewport of the door, however, made him begin to reassess that assumption. A large _thing _was soaring through the air, with a massive wingspan. Said "thing" was also on a direct course for the plane. More specifically, it appeared to be headed in his direction, and rapidly growing in size as it neared. Saying a short mental prayer to whatever deity happened to be listening to him, Nicholas let go of the door, letting the wind suck him out the back of the plane.

He looked up, just as what could only be described as a winged beast from Hell smashed through what was left of the plane, turning it into a flaming ball of wreckage. However, his focus did not stay on that for long. It was hard to care much about the plane when he was free falling through the skies with no parachute.

Before he could even begin to focus on his predicament, his attention was suddenly diverted as his downward motion suddenly became a horizontal motion. The next thing he noticed was what felt like claws holding onto him. Looking over his shoulder, all he seemed to be able to see was black… scales?

It would not be until much later on that Nicholas would realize that he had passed out shortly thereafter.

**=()=()=()=**

Nick awoke with a groan, rolling over as he felt his arm twisted at an odd angle. The stone beneath him was cold, and though he moved lethargically, he pushed himself into a sitting position. He rolled and shook his arm, trying to get some feeling back into the limb. He looked around, only to realize he seemed to be inside a shallow cave of some kind. Seeing light flashing behind him, he looked over his shoulder, only to come to an amusing realization.

"Is my flashlight on?"

Sure enough, after flipping his sling bag around, the small clip-on flashlight was blinking away, the trio of LED lights nearly blinding him. With a sigh, he pulled himself to his knees, and looked over towards the entrance of the cave, only to see trees, trees, and more trees all around him. He wracked his brain, trying to figure out how he had gotten to where he was. Pacing, he started talking to himself.

"Ok, I am in a cave, in the middle of a forest. Where was I before… wait a second…"

The flood of memories hit him like a ton of bricks, driving him forward onto his hands, nearly hyperventilating.

"The- the plane… and- I fell… wha- what the _holy flying fuck_-"

A sound of swooping wind caught his attention, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Slowly, he lifted his head up from the ground, only to find himself staring into a pair of massive green eyes. Said eyes were surrounded by midnight black scales, and said scales seemed to belong to what could only be described as what appeared to be a _dragon_.

Nick flung himself backwards, crab crawling in reverse. The dragon, of all things, just slowly followed him, its eyes wide and observant. He continued to retreat backwards until his back hit what had to be the cave wall. The dragon moved closer, until it started to sniff his chest, then face. Nicholas did all he could to not even breathe as the black snout moved across him. Eventually, the dragon pulled away, and sat on its rear haunches, staring almost expectantly at him.

Nick sat there, doing his best to seem invisible for as long as he could. When the dragon did not move after a while, however, he decided to take a chance, and slowly relaxed against the cave wall. Clearing his throat, he made the decision to try to speak.

"Do, uh… can you understand me?"

No reaction whatsoever from the dragon.

"Hmm… why… wait, you were the one that caught me out of the air, weren't you?"

Once again, the dragon did not so much as even twitch.

"Great. I must be losing my mind. Maybe I'm already dead, or I am about to die, and this is some sort of hallucination of mine just before I kick the bucket."

At this, the dragon's head tilted slightly to one side, as though confused or curious. Nick, growing weary of talking seemingly to himself, just stared right back at the dragon. This lasted for at least a few minutes, before the human let out a sigh, looking away.

"Well, if you aren't planning on eating me right now, I am just going to go ahead and eat something myself."

Twisting his sling bag around, Nicholas pulled out a peanut butter energy snack bar, and pulled the wrapper apart. The moment he did so, the dragon took a deep whiff, its eyes going wide as it looked at the energy bar. He glanced down at it, then back at the dragon. With a shrug, he pulled the energy bar in half, and held out part of it to the dragon.

"Here; I don't know if you can digest this, but you seem interested enough in it." When the dragon hesitated, he leaned a little further out. "Go on, it is just made with peanut butter and other nuts."

Finally, the dragon gingerly took the bar from him, rolling it around in its mouth. Nick nearly choked on a bite of his own ration bar as the dragon's eyes rolled into its head, its body flopping down limply onto the ground as it started to _purr_, of all things. He could not help but stare incredulously at the sight.

"So I was saved from falling to my death by a dragon, which should not exist, and said dragon seems to love the taste of peanut butter?! What's next? A trope of Vikings barreling out of the woods with swords and spears?!"

He shut his mouth as he heard the leaves rustling only a dozen or so feet from where he was sitting. Looking around, his gaze locked onto a cluster of bushes that seemed to be moving. He continued to stare and listen, not daring to move. Eventually, a head popped up slowly out of the bushes, revealing a young man with light brown hair, staring at him. Following him was a group of other young people, all looking like either teenagers or young adults. All dressed in what appeared to be viking garb.

With a sigh, Nick dropped his head against the stone wall, rolling his eyes upward. "Fuck it. I'm done."

The young man he'd seen first spoke up, but it was in no language Nicholas had ever heard. Looking over again, he almost did a double take, seeing a group of dragons of multiple shapes and sizes following the young Vikings. He made to stand up, only to feel a lancing pain shoot up his thigh, a small cry of pain escaping him. Looking down at his leg, Nick grimaced at the sight; a small piece of metal rod, likely from the explosion of the plane, was lodged through the side of his left thigh. It only went part-way through, which is likely why he did not notice it before when he slid across the ground.

As he opened his eyes again, he saw the Viking group huddled around him, the thin lanky one looking at his wounded leg. Before he could even utter a word, two of the beefy men each took him by an arm, and hoisted him up between the two of them. The fact that they all seemed rather calm was reassuring to Nick; it meant they were (hopefully) not going to hurt him. At least, not right away.

**=()=()=()=**

As they moved through the forest, Nicholas picked up a few details that he figured might be important. The thin lanky guy seemed to be the one in charge, with the constantly scowling girl always staying within a certain distance of him. The first guy also had some kind of basic prosthetic leg. The guy on his left helping to carry him seemed to get laughed at a lot, and the one to his right talked almost nonstop. The pair of twins concerned him a bit, by the number of times they would break into manic laughter at random intervals. The looks the rest of the group shot towards the twins did not inspire any confidence, either.

With a sigh, he spoke up, "Any chance that one of you can understand me?"

Silence and stares were the only reply he received.

"Yeah, I didn't think so."

The group of Vikings were more muted for the rest of their travels, up until they cleared the edge of the forest. Nick's eyes grew wide in surprise when he realized they were moving towards what appeared to be some kind of old style village. It would have looked like some kind of re-enactment mock up, if it were not for the handful of dragons flying around, or snoozing on rooftops.

He could see a large group of people, also dressed like Vikings, congregate around the pathways between houses as the lanky leader called out in his native tongue. Thankfully, no one stood in their way as they walked. After passing a handful of wooden buildings, they came up to a two story building, with a short, old woman who quite clearly looked over the age of eighty. Without a word spoken, the woman gestured for them to follow. Nick did his best to lift his legs for the stairs, but couldn't stifle a single whimper when one missed step caused a jolt through his injured leg.

As they moved into the interior of the structure, Nicholas could not help but gape at the dozens of shelves, filled with what appeared to be hundreds upon hundreds of different plants and poltices filled with various liquids. Finally, blessedly, the two men gently eased him down onto a bed. It was not the cleanest or nicest he had ever seen, but it was horizontal, and it took the weight off his leg.

He pulled his sling bag off and laid onto the bed with a sigh, enjoying the relief of weightlessness from his leg. That relief was short lived as he felt someone tug lightly on the metal rod sticking out of his leg. He shot up straight, his eyes wide.

"Yyyyaaaagghh!"

He glared at the old woman standing there, who simply smirked at him, a knowing glint to her eye. Rolling his eyes, he gingerly rested on his elbows, and looked away from her towards the wall.

"Thanks for that, old woman. I totally enjoy getting poked and prodded in painful flesh wounds."

A series of scratching noises caught his attention, only to see the woman using her walking stick to draw some kind of symbols onto the ground. Shortly thereafter, the crowd of people filed out of the room, leaving Nick alone with the woman. She moved away, keeping her back faced to him, before standing in front of a fireplace.

"You came through the Bermuda Triangle, did you not?"

Nicholas's eyes grew wide as he looked over at the woman. "Y-you speak english?!"

She turned to look at him, her eyes fierce. "_Answer the question, boy!_"

With a gulp, he nodded. "Yeah, I did, I think… what difference-"

The woman moved closer to him, talking right over top of him, even with her quieter voice. "Did you come by air, or by sea?"

His brow furrowing, he replied, "I came by air. Look, how-"

"Impossible. You would not have survived. _Could not_ have survived."

Rolling his eyes, Nick laid back onto the bed as he spoke. "Well, that's all well and dandy. Maybe you should tell the flying black lizard that nabbed me in freefall that." A snort drew his attention to a nearby window, where said dragon was looking straight at him. "Oh look, there it is. Ask it yourself."

The old woman looked between the dragon and himself, almost glaring at them both. Eventually, she let out a sigh. "I never thought I would see the day. After all these years…"

Brow furrowing, he leaned forward towards her. "Did you come through the Bermuda Triangle as well?"

She nodded, her eyes going distant. "Oh yes, quite a long time ago, boy. I would wager I was close to your age at the time, as well. But that is not important. What is important is that you understand; there is no going back. Going through the Triangle is a one way trip. It does not even open in the same location each time."

"But-"

"_Listen_, boy! You must listen before you can understand. The world you knew is gone, forever. Here, there is magic; magic, and dragons, and many other wonders so-called 'science' decries as impossibilities. Things exist here that will shatter the mental image you have of the universe around you. Do not fight it, do not try to deny it. It simply, _is_."

Nick stared at the woman for a few moments, before letting out a sigh. "All right, fine. So how do I go about figuring out how to speak the language? Do they have schools here?"

For the first time, the old woman smiled. "No, I have… other methods for teaching one such as you. Methods that involve magic."

As she moved closer to him, he held up his hands. "Hang on, before you do… whatever it is you're about to do, I have to ask: do you have peanut butter here?"

The woman visibly started at that, her face openly showing her confusion. "What?"

Gesturing a thumb to the window, he elaborated, "The flying lizard over there seems to be a peanut butter junkie. I gave him some earlier, and you would have thought I gave him a pinch of crack or something."

Shooting him an annoyed glare, the woman began chanting in a low voice, the words unintelligible to Nick. As she spoke, the edges of his vision began to become blurry, and he felt himself slipping from consciousness. The last thing he remembered seeing was a pair of green eyes staring at him from a distance.


End file.
